1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a hearing device.
2. Description of Related Art
The term hearing device shall be understood as a device to be worn at the vicinity or directly within the ear of a person to improve the individual hearing capacity of this person. Such an improvement may include the prevention of the receiving of certain acoustic signals in terms of ear protection. In relation to the application of such hearing devices they can be worn behind the ear (BTE), within the ear (ITE) or completely within the ear (CIC).
Such hearing devices normally comprise of at least one microphone as acoustic receiving element, a speaker as acoustic output element and an electronic element connected with said microphone and said speaker for the processing and inducement of electronic signals. This electronic element may comprise analogue or digital signal processing devices.
The main housing of BTE hearing devices which are worn behind the ear may be connected to an ITE element, usually by a connection channel. This connecting channel may be rigid, flexible or elastic and may comprise besides electrical conduits acoustical conductive channels as well.
On such hearing devices, the microphone may be arranged within the main housing and the speaker within the ITE element. The connection may be realized for instance through a tube that is detachably connected with the main housing, as described for instance in WO 2004/025990, where the detachable connection is realized by an electrically conductive plug-in connection.
One problem of such hearing devices is the acoustical and mechanical feedback between microphone and speaker. This feedback has to be damped, reduced or interrupted for a stable hearing system. Commonly, the microphone and/or speaker will therefore be resiliently supported or mounted respectively and a maximized distance between microphone and speaker is intended. Such provisions are restricted due to the high level of miniaturization, the predetermined geometry and size of the individual auditory canal and the size of the microphone and especially of the speaker. Especially for designing the element as CIC element, e.g. to be arranged completely within the auditory canal, there is hardly any space for such a resilient suspension of the speaker.
Furthermore for such known arrangements, a mechanical coupling consists between the main housing and the element through the connection with a tube, thus always resulting in a mechanical feedback. Frequently, vibrations will be inducted and transferred to the microphone over the generally detachable connection between the tube and the main housing.